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40 years ago a rare cancer, Kaposi’s sarcoma, was reported to have been diagnosed in 41 homosexual men. Over time, cases of pneumocystis pneumonia was also being diagnosed in mostly the same population. These diseases were also found in IV drug users, Haitians & hemophiliacs
The condition which in the early days became known as Gay-related immune disorder (GRID) baffled medical professionals who could not figure out why previously healthy people were suddenly coming down with and dying from odd diseases
By the time GRID, now known as AIDS, was first diagnosed nearly half of gay men in San Francisco, CA and New York were already infected. By the time it was discovered that it may be a blood-borne disease almost 70% of hemophiliacs had been infected through Factor VIII.
The blood banks, rejecting the possibility that the disease was blood-borne, refused to prevent blood donations from people in at-risk groups as suggested by the CDC further facilitating the spread of the deadly, incurable disease and the deaths of thousands
Larry Kramer, a playwright responsible for ACT UP and GMHC led the fight for access to research, drug trials, and the release of the first breakthrough drug AZT for the treatment of AIDS.
AZT helped to buy some time for healthier individuals until the triple cocktail regimen was established later in the 90s. AIDS went from a nearly 100% fatality rate to a manageable chronic condition. It does not have to be a death sentence if you get tested & get treatment
Why am I up at 3am talking about this? I don’t know lol. It might be because it’s always been at the back of my mind since I witnessed my hair lady wither and pass away in 1993 from AIDS which she got from her husband. It’s a horrible, painful death
The last time she did my hair she had a bucket next to her so she could throw up when the nausea hit. Her vomit was laced with blood. She lived where she worked; in a little kiosk by the roadside. Her two children, one of whom looked very ill, lived with her.
Her husband had already passed away by this time. That woman had no one to care for her or her kids so she continued to work even though she knew she was dying. That’s something very heavy for a 6 year old to see & think about. I remember asking my mother about it
Of course it was swept under the rug and life continued as normal. All these years later I have not been able to stop wondering what happened to those kids when their mother died. Did they have AIDS too? Are they still alive? Were they taken care of?
